What is productivity?
These are the main ways I get the most out of my day:
- Make a clear plan – long term, then work backwards, what needs to be done this week?
- Mindset – focusing on the vision, and making myself motivated towards my goals
- Prioritise on the most important thing that will bring the biggest returns.
- Remove distractions – phone, browsers, social media, and “remove newsfeed” chrome extension.
- Don’t multi-task- focus on one thing at a time.
- Having livc chat open with others is especially unproductive.
- Use a calendar and schedule time. Scheduling time is better than a to-do list. A to-do list just means you start at the top and work down, but you need to try to cram as much as you can into your day, so thats why its more effective to have a schedule. It also makes you more conscious about what the time is.
- Time Audit – it’s a good idea to do a time audit and work out where your time is going. For a week, record every 30 mins or 1 hour what you’ve been done in the last hour, then add up at the end of the week.
- Make a journal
This is my optimal daily routine:
- 6am – wake up and drink water and meditate. 20 mins
- 6.30 – read something
- 7 – 8 go to the gym
- 8 – 9 learn Chinese
- 9-12 – working
- 12-1 – lunch
- 1-7 – working
- 7-8 eating
- 8-10 walk, rest, read, meditate
For my working time I usually schedule productive time in the morning and meetings in the afternoon.
I’ve found that I’m usually more productive in the mornings, and I feel slower after I eat, so I will not eat in the morning and eat only lunch and dinner.
It rarely happens this perfectly. I often feel the urge to start working as soon as I wake up, especially when I’m really busy, and also keep working later too, but it’s normally better to have more rest and spend less time working. The less time I spend the more productive the time usually is.
I usually go to the gym every 1-2 days.
Weekends:
– I normally work on Saturday and I find it really productive to be working when nobody else is working. I feel like there is no pressure or expectations from others so I’ll do something creative like work on a new product or create content.
– I will also normally have a day off on Sunday and no checking of phone or anything work related.
I also do like the idea of having a week day off (like a Tuesday or Wednesday) sometimes and just do nothing but think and plan. I’ve sometimes found that because I’m not touching any machines and having no obligations, I’ll be especially productive or creative and actually end up getting a lot more done than if I was doing work that I felt like I needed to do.
